Seattle Superheroes: Mindie Lind aka “Glide”

Seattle Superheroes is a regular series on seattlemag.com wherein artists depict standout people in our community as superheroes. While we’ve taken some artistic license with the narratives, the sentiment behind them is very real.  

From a cloud of mist, she arrives. With a whoosh, she arrives. On the back of an eagle, or with two flanking her, she arrives. Superhero singer-songwriter, Mindie Lind (a.k.a. Glide) knows how to make an entrance. 

When Lind was a year old, a Swedish Southern Baptist family named the Lindstroms adopted her. She moved often with her new family, from Florida to Virginia to Missouri and Georgia. With a group of her 15 brothers and sisters in tow, she would go out into the southern summer heat and pop tar bubbles in the street for fun. 

Lind was born without legs, though she remains as mobile as any person or hero, getting around via skateboard, wheelchair or by superhero wing. As a girl, an eagle visited her in a dream and taught her two things: how to sing and how to fly. When she awoke, she was floating above her bed with glowing eyes and a voice as haunting as a creaking barn.

As a teenager in Georgia, Lind hid her powers of flight from her classmates, acting as a nerdy kid in the orchestra before school and in marching band after school. Her newfound musical ability came in handy in the bands where she played French horn and in gospel choirs where she sang and played piano. She went to church on Sundays and Wednesdays, though her ideas of God were put aside, she says, when she discovered her passion for boys and smoking pot. 

Lind arrived in Seattle at age 23 after graduating from college at the University of West Georgia where she studied psychology and philosophy. She chose the Emerald City, she says, because it was the furthest from Georgia and because of its mountainous and serene water views. 

She integrated herself in the local music scene after performing at the famed open mic at Café Racer. She’d found the place when looking for a good breakfast during her shifts across the street at a listening therapy center. Her voice, much like her physical form, floats, soars and dances mid-air. She has performed as an opening act for Ben Folds and HBO’s Girls creator, Lena Dunham. Lind is also a outspoken advocate of crip culture–known as disability culture–and her writing, which features personal heroes such as disability advocate John Hockenberry, has appeared in The Stranger.

Lind can be found around Seattle performing at Café Racer, The Tractor Tavern, The Moore Theater and other venues. Look for her whenever the fog is rolling in or wherever the birds are singing mightly.

About the artist: Born in France, Rémy Coutarel received a degree in graphic design in 2007 and moved to Seattle in 2011. When not chasing after his two toddlers, he spends his time working on illustrations, comics and children’s books. For more information, visit remycoutarel.com.